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RossR writes "A Chinese multiplayer online game company is taking note of the success of 'private servers' running pirated and altered versions. In moves that show some common sense, when a pirate server is taken down Shanda Games sees it as a sign of a underserved market. Properly licensed servers are occasionally installed for the geographic location previously covered by the unlicensed servers. Shanda is taking it a step further by developing a new platform that would allow for the flexible rule changes favored in the hacked versions. Also of interest is the article's reference to the escalation of cyber attacks between private server providers."

Chinese company is going out of their way to give players what they want

And at the same time US companies are removing dedicated servers completely, applying heavy DRM instead of rethinking their business model, making it impossible to create mods and in general do everything they can to hinder players ability to enjoy games how they want.

It really looks like US is going downhill and fast while other countries do things correctly and will enjoy the results.

Chinese games work differently. You don't pay for the game or access to it, but for game items. Sort of like TF2. It's a good business model, too, and is working really good for Valve in the US. While you can get the items from store, you can also get them from drops, trading, achievements or by crafting them and it doesn't affect the gameplay negatively.

Problem is that free-to-play only works for certain kinds of games. It took a few years of work to convert TF2 from the traditional release to the current F2P form, and the game changed so much that they lost quite a few of their early players (myself included).

Basically, it ONLY works in multiplayer (many people either can't, or won't, play online), and it ONLY works in high-variety games. You couldn't make a F2P version of Portal, for instance - there's not enough variety of useful items to sell, and you

This is silly. I played TF since the original Quake version. TF2 as a F2P works great and does nothing to alienate old, hardcore players.
You can just ignore other people's items, as I do. The game is still the same. Quit bitching already.

Haha, totally, Torchlight was a fun game, they released it for $20... it was repetitive but fun and short and easily expandable. Most games cost 10x to make though, those game designers aren't as friendly towards it.

This does open up potential for a scenario where everybody wins and thats online/offline based games that are free offline and pay to play online. If you like the game, play the story and go online if u want more. Everybody will pick 2-3 games and rotate to new ones and expansions of those ga

Meanwhile, lost in the announcement of D3's ban on offline play was the fact that Blizzard is also banning modded servers. Apparently they don't understand that sometimes people like to adjust the rules to fit their own h tastes.

Hopefully they come to their senses and realize that modders have made some of this generation's best games. Counterstrike, TF2, DOTA, and so on... It's stunningly foolish to turn their backs on all that.

Warcraft 3 is an RTS, while WoW and diablo II (more so with Diablo 3) are MMORPGs. Yet, Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2 both have strong modding potential. Blizzard doesn't want people to hack persistent games, but is fine with mods for episodic games.
World of Warcraft recently added in a feature called "War games" where you can set up your own pvp battles with other players on any pvp map. You are free to have uneven teams, and you can all agree on any set of special rules you want to follow. I could see them

1) Developers release games with dedicated servers that can be run by anyone

2) Multiplayer games get popular, running servers is free and easy and anyone can do it. Years of value comes out of a single game thanks to mod tools and extensibility and the fact that anyone can run a server for their favourite mod.

3) Developers slowly cut back on dedicated servers as they want to control the game experience once they realise they can sell you less DLC when mods exist.

Piracy is ship to ship armed robbery, kidnapping and murder. Every time you call copyright infringement "piracy" you are making light of what's happeing off the horn of Africa and making copying a floppy sound like a capital crime. Stop playing their game.

Just because Miriam-Webster and the other dictionary/English language bigwigs decide to add a new word or definition of an existing word on the basis that it has become commonly used, does not mean that the word is a real word or that the word means what they say it does. (Cue raving dissent from overzealous English majors.) The purpose of a language is to communicate and the purpose of a dictionary is facilitate that communication. If there is a word, or a definition of a word that is in common use, it is